Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Had to grimace a bit after reading Lee's post below - sounds like a nasty ending to the FAB. Great analysis of what kinds of players to avoid in GDR - high K or high GIDP guys are not going to get much play on my teams either.

That said, I probably was on the other end of those kinds of FAB moves today in the Mays conference, as I pulled a few irons out of the fire with late pre-blackout bids on F Cordero, Wes Helms, and Brad Hawpe. I paid more than I wanted to for Helms at $3M, but with 1B eligibility plus a FT 3B job in Philly this season, I think he'll produce enough to warrant that number. I look for 25-30 HRs and 110 RBI batting 5th or 6th in Philly's loaded lineup, protecting Howard & Utley, and give me 2.8-3.2 fpg as my DH or backing up the corner IF spots depending on how he performs vs. Hawpe.

I also managed to pull off a major sign & trade deal which really set the tone for my draft. I picked up 2 young 2B in Kinsler & Barfield, and needed someone to bat leadoff and improve my OF quality. Found a trade partner who had Damon, one of my favorite GDR players precisely because of the low K & GIDPs he offers. The problem? His owner needed a strong #2 or #3 SP in the deal, and only 3 were left.

At that point my GM rating was 100, so I was able to do some precise bidding, and in a pre-blackout move landed Freddy Garcia, one of the SPs on my trading partner's wish list. Got the deal done just before last offers and was able to close on Cordero, Helms & Hawpe as a result. No major lineup holes now, and while I need some help from the "upside" gods, I like what I have to work with as we go to free agent sigings:

OF2

Damon, J.

3B

Teahen, M.

OF1

Drew, J.

1B

LaRoche, A.

DH

Helms.W

2B

Kinsler, I.

SS

Drew, S.

OF3

Markakis, N.

C

Napoli, M.

SP1

Harden, R.

SP2

Hernandez, F.

SP3

Matsuzaka, D.

SP4

Hill, R.

SP5

Loewen, A.

MR

Tankersley, T.

SU

Soriano, R.

Cls

Cordero, F.

FR

Fuentes, B.

While I don't have any 40-HR big boppers in my lineup, I have plenty of 25-30 HR types who'll hit for average & drive in runs. Let's see if that will carry me to the playoffs...